dcorp

probably this pile of deps, but most of those were bought before the hype for around $100

Bass taste like crap. If it was a good eating fish you would see it in restaurants. I think I saw it on the menu at a Chinese restaurant a few years ago....

Glide baits have amazing drawing power. Fish don't always commit to them but on days they are active, glide baits will get them out of their cover and show you where they are. The 2 biggest bass I caught in 2013 followed a glide bait to the boat but didnt commit. I went back to that spot later with a different bait and a longer cast and got them. I've found the bigger the bait the more drawing power it has but even the little s wavers will get some to show their faces. Plus you can fish them fast and cover a lot of ground.

Best thing about winter is... watching it on TV from California (saw that on a Facebook page lol) but seriously its been in the 60-70s here but we need rain soooo bad.

I have a 1000 gallon koi pond in my backyard that I have some green sunfish and a bass in along with a number of koi and goldfish. I caught the bass (with a net) in a private pond when he was about 2 inches long. I put him in a 30 gallon tank and later a 150 gallon tank to grow him out so my green sunfish wouldn't eat him. Once you get the bass eating koi food he will grow about an inch every other month for the first year (and more if you keep your water warm). once they reach about 12" long they slow down on the growth. In my opinion, if you want to keep a native fish, sunfish are the way to go. They require less space, more likely to take koi food, and are more active in a aquarium setting. If you do keep a bass, I've found they do better if you get them when they are really small. make sure you find out what the laws are in your area about keeping native fish. The worst thing you can do is release a fish in a lake once its been in captivity, that is how diseases are spread. Anyways, here are some pics, these are older, I don't have any recent once of the bass but he is about 11-12 inches now. I've had some form of native fish in a tank or pond for the last 15 years so hit me up if you have any questions.

Lots of good info here. I just caught a big bass last Sunday on a larger 10" swimbait. My buddy saw the fish follow his lure to the boat earlier in the day. He made 2 more casts at it then we decided to back off and come back to the spot later. We new where the fish was but the fish also knew we were there. So about 1 1/2 hours later we hit up the spot again. I made a long cast to the spot I thought we saw the fish and half way through my retrieve she slammed my swimbait. 1 minute later I have a 27" bass in my boat.

I have a local lake near me that gets really bad. I don't know what to do either, I just stopped fishing braid there because it was such a big issue.

Because there are a ton of little bass in there the big boys are probably targeting those 8-10 inch bass. I would throw some bigger baits, swimbait and jerkbaits that are in a baby bass color. Or if the fish are active in the morning or evenings I would throw a top water hollow belly frog, those tend to get bigger fish. Good luck.

Being that a used Curado E is almost as much as a new Chronarch E and they are basically the same reel... just buy a new Chronarch.

So many different variables to that question that it is almost impossible to answer. Where does the bass live? Is she in a state where there is a mild winter and the bass can feed all year or are they up north where the lakes freeze and their metabolism slows down for months out of the year and they almost completely stop eating (and growing). Also how big is the bass now? Bass grow really fast in length for the first couple years then slow down. A bass fry can grow 12 inches in the first year if the environment and food supply are all good. But a 12 inch bass may grow 2-5 inches the next year. On the other side of that, a larger bass (10+ pounds) may gain many pounds in weight in a year and barely grow any larger in length. Lets say a bass that averages 17lbs goes on a eating binge and eats 4-5 stocked rainbow trout in a day or 2. That 17lb bass is now a contender as a world record fish and it hasn't grown in length at all. I have a koi pond that I have put bass in over the years. Some fish just grow a lot faster than others. I don't know if its because they are more dominate and are eating more fish or because they are female vs male bass, or maybe just genetics?? Some fish will literally grow twice as fast as others, which is a huge difference when you think about a 1 year old fish being either 6 inches or 12. Soooo to answer your question, its hard to say, lol.

I have a Roman Made Lipless Trick that I just bought recently and the bait is really nice. It has the best balance and most realistic sink that I have ever seen from a swimbait. The closest thing I can compare it to is a triple trout but it really is in a league of its own. There are so many different styles to fish this thing but what I have found is the best is casting it past structure and when you get to the area you think the bass are holding you stop reeling, let it sink and give the rod a few very light twitches and the bait really comes alive. I think when the water warms up a faster retrive will be working better but the water is still in the 40's here. My only complaint is after I landed 2 fish and lost another the paint on the bait has started chipping and is getting scratched up pretty good. I know the fish dont care but after spending good money on a bait I guess I would like a stronger clear coat on it....

If your not familiar with the area go on Google maps and search for lakes and ponds in your area. Or you can hit up a local bait shop and ask some people where they are going. Just some ideas.

I have a hummingbird piranha max 170 and it works fine. All you will need to run the thing is a battery. I have installed the transducer a few different ways and I think the best way is to build a well. I buillt mine out of a 3" piece of pvc. the transducer just sits in the well, all you need to do is add water. I also built a cap for my well that holds the transducer in place. You can find more info on this on kayak forums or you can message me. I have glued the transducer to my hull a couple times and it works great for a year then starts to peel off. Once that happens you can't get the glue of the transducer so it ends up in the garbage. With a well install there is no glue on the transducer so if the well leaks you just add some more goop and your good to go.

Looks like you already got what your looking for but I fished 68's and 8" Hudds with a Gen2 Winch for quite a while and never had any problems with the gears. Now I am using a Toro 51 or 5501 C3 just to get more line capacity. I had the Winch spooled with 65lb Powerpro and using a Dobyns 806 rod I would get really close to the spool.

I mostly use 6'6" and 6'9" from my kayak and 7'0 and longer when fishing from my boat. Trying to untangle line from the tip of your rod in a kayak is pretty rough with a 7 foot rod, your reel ends up in the water... plus in a kayak getting close to the fish isn't a problem so I rely more on accurate casts.

I bought a Winch from TW during the fourth of July sale and it is super smooth. It's my second Winch and I would say they are smoother than my Sx's. I was throwing 6 inch hudds with it yesterday and I could barely feel the bait at the end of my line. Depending on how rough yours feels I would probably just exchange it for another...

I have had 2 gen2 sx's and they cast great right out of the box. Never had any problem with backlashes and did great casting into the wind. Never tried a gen1 but I think those are the reels most people had problems with. I know a couple places where you can get them for $110, and that's a great deal for those reels.

I laughed when I read this in the OP "There's nothing wrong with the new stuff. I'm itching to get a hold of every Rage Tail product coming out (and all the ones that have already came out). But, I seen a vid of Jimmy Houston fishing one spot with Charlie Parker in 1986 on YouTube. He was using a Mann's 10" worm (I have no idea what kind). Within an 9 minute period he landed 4 5-6# and 1 4#. If they worked 10 years ago, they will work now." The biggest bass I ever hooked was on a 10" black Manns Jelly worm and yes it was probably 10-12 years ago. Bass was probably between 12-15lbs. The funny thing is I dont fish them anymore because I am using the "new" stuff, lol. I probably still have them stored away in a old tacklebox. I think reading this thread has me motivated to pull them out.

My grandma lives on a lake in Tampa simlar to that one. I grew up fishing there and have always done well on large wroms. Like 8-12" black worms either by Manns or berkely power worms. Shinners will also catch you a ton of fish..

I have caught a few bigger bass that look like their eyes are popping out of their head. Usually these fish are near or over 10lbs. I always thought it was related to a fish and it's size. But I recently caught a fish that was only 6.5lbs and had the same issue. Looked like an old fish so I am wondering if it's due to age or size or something else?

We dont have lilly pads where I fish in California either. I fish frogs a lot and usually cast them near cattails, branches, and heavy grass cover. I have also caught bass in open water on frogs.

I've owned the Accurist also, the older 500 pt model. Decent reel that can be found on ebay for $50. I bought it because I actually like using a flipping switch.... But I ended up selling it after about a year. Worked fine but my SX felt so much better. What bothered me about the accurist is the side plate that is removable to access the spool always felt a little loose in my hands. It had a tiny bit of play when it was locked down, not sure if that was my model or if they were all like that.

Not sure of the prices but I will be picking up a few of those handles for sure. I bet they will be half the price of the JDM carbon handles.... I hope.

I've never owned a Lews because they limited there left hand reels to one speed. It's about time they offered the other gear sets to leftys. Maybe I'll try them out now, but with the Gen 3 Revos coming out...........

If you like Abu's and want to save some money pick up a SX-HS for your flippin rod. They are strong reels with the best drag out there and you can get them for around $100 new right now. I am using a SX HS with 65lb power pro on my flippin/punchin set up. REally like the fact that I can crank the drag down and set the hook on a big bass in cover (with braid) and no line will pull out on the hook set. With my Daiwas I need to put my finger on the spool on the hook set which I dont always remember to do. Just my 2 cents....